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Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Last minute gifts - for a child/teen

This one could be for almost anyone. We all need little pouches for different purposes. For a child you could put lollies or colouring pens inside, for teens you could put nail polish or you could give it just empty.

You can choose a funky material or make your own print on a basic material. I won't show step by step tutorial on how I did mine, but you can do it even without my instructions. The first one I just used letter stamps and fabric paint and for the second one I wrote the message with a paintbrush.

Start by cutting out all the pieces you need. Make your prints on the pieces first too. Remember to iron the pieces with print on them after they are dry. That way the paint will stay on the material even after a wash. I also attached my labels at this point to the inner materials.

Once you've done this, sew the zip in place. This might be the most difficult part if you're not used to sewing zips. But once you get it, it's pretty easy. The way to do it is to take one outside piece and one inside piece, face them right sides together and put the zip in between them so that the top side of the zip is facing the outside piece.

Get the drift? If not hopefully the picture below will clarify it. Then just sew the other side of the zip on. Do the same for the other side.

After you've sewn both sides on the zip, your work should look like the picture below (the outside and inside).

I sew a seam right on the material, next to the zip so that the zip will open and close without any problems. This step is not necessary if you're in a hurry.

Now put the outside pieces right sides facing each other and inside pieces right sides facing each other and sew around the whole thing. Remember to leave a small gap where you're going to turn your pouch around. And remember to have this gap on the inside piece! Also remember to leave the zip open in the middle!

Turn the pouch right way around through the small hole.

Close the gap with a straight stitching as shown in the picture below.

Push the inside part inside the pouch, iron and you are done! Fill it with goodies or give it as it is. And I'll bet it will be a loved gift.